


Watching

by TheLittleTrashCat



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Additional Warnings Apply, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Body Horror, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders Angst, Dialogue Light, Gen, Graphic Description, Graphic Description of Corpses, Heavy Angst, Horror, Injury, Inner Dialogue, Monsters, Near Death Experiences, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Starvation, Survival, Survival Horror, Swearing, Talking Animals, Touch-Starved, Violence, Were-Creatures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-19 18:24:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20214250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLittleTrashCat/pseuds/TheLittleTrashCat
Summary: Roman took in a shaky breath as leaves crunched under his feet, wind whistling quietly amongst the dying trees, all tell-tale signs that he was getting closer to his destination.The cold breeze pushed his bangs into his face, and while normally he would have minded, this time, he didn't.Because this was his quiet time. His time to get away from it all and be completely, utterly alone, with only the whispers of wind and his own thoughts to keep him company.OrRoman gets stuck in the imagination. Except, this time, it's different.Because it isn't his side of the imagination.





	1. The Fall

Roman took in a shaky breath as leaves crunched under his feet, wind whistling quietly amongst the dying trees, all tell-tale signs that he was getting closer to his destination.

The cold breeze pushed his bangs into his face, and while normally he would have minded, this time, he didn't. 

Because this was his quiet time. His time to get away from it all and be completely, utterly alone, with only the whispers of wind and his own thoughts to keep him company.

Sometimes, he swore he could hear the wind talking to him, but he always chalked that up to his location.

The location, which had just arrived at, was a cliff, overlooking Remus' side of the Imagination. 

The path to his was small, and narrow, full of branches and rocks, and the trees leading up to the cliff face were in a permanent wintery state, the wind a constant, whispering chill.

Roman had been coming here for years, setting himself with his knees to his chest at the border between two worlds, alone to his thoughts.

It was nice, to take a breath of fresh, cold air, and oftentimes he immersed himself in simply watching the view, gazing upon the landscape below without a thought in his mind.

This, was not one of those times.

This time, he was here because needed to escape.

This time, he was here because he had gotten into a fight with Logan.

Of course, this wasn't anything new, but this fight had escalated very, very quickly. It had gone from what was best for Thomas, into a very personal battle, and it had ended up with Logan _ screaming _at him. And, honestly, Logan had crossed so many lines, that despite his clear, instant regret, Roman felt some satisfaction when he fired back, but the insult to his character had quickly fallen apart as Roman's emotions that he had shoved aside came bubbling out, and Roman had let some things slip that he had hoped would never see the light of day. 

So, when he'd sunk out, eyes welling with tears, he had immediately came here.

And as soon as he cleared the trees, he'd collapsed, curling his knees to his chest and resting his arms against them, head shoved between them as he cried.

Roman rocked himself back and forth as he sobbed, trying to stop his trembling, but he wouldn't work, and he just kept on trying. His tears were causing wet patches to form on his sleeves, but he couldn't bring himself to care, because he was so _ tired _ of being so _ weak, _ and _ stupid _ and _ pathetic _and-

Roman took in a shaky inhale, trying to calm himself down, but to no avail as he _ just. kept. on. crying. _

Eventually, though, after what felt like hours, Roman finally, _ finally, _had cried out all of his tears. His limbs were still shaky, and his face had the uncomfortable feeling of dried tears on it, but he was done. Lifting his head out of his arms, Roman leaned his chin onto his arms and stared out to the "dark" side of the Imagination.

Most of what he could see was a dark forest, full of towering trees with canopies that blocked out the sun. There was another cliff with a large waterfall, and beyond that was mountains. There was also large fields and valleys, but they were too far away for Roman to make out much of anything in them.

He knew Remus took pride in his side of the Imagination, and it wasn't hard to see why, because despite being straight out of a horror game, it was beautiful, in a terrifying way.

Roman was almost jealous of how much pride Remus took in his creations, because to Roman, everything he made, well...sucked.

Shaking his head vigorously (and immediately regretting it when his head swam), Roman stood on shaky legs. He had done enough wallowing in self-pity, and the others were probably (...hopefully) starting to worry about him now. 

So, Roman, begrudgingly, began to walk back, except as soon as he took his first step his foot caught a rock and he stumbled, flinging his arms out in an attempt to gain balance.

Except, suddenly, he heard a loud howl, and Roman didn't have time to brace himself before a large gust of wind slammed into his side and flung him off the cliff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehehehe


	2. Off To A Great Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Warnings: Descriptions of bones, maggots and corpses, hybrid creatures, as well as mentions of Deceit (Sympathetic) **
> 
> **[Let me know if I missed _anything_]**

A scream tore its way out Roman's throat as he tumbled over the edge, heart leaping into his throat.

He tried to sink out, to summon _ something, _ to do _ anything _ but he couldn't and the ground was fast approaching and _ oh god- _

Roman's body convulsed, and a dark green mass flashed across his vision, his entire body pins-and-needling as his ears roared and a harsh, cold wind rushed over him, and then he slammed into the ground.

Pain flared across his side and Roman gasped, squeezing his eyes shut as he curled in on himself. 

He took in a few unsteady breaths. _ "Holy shit," _he breathed, heart slamming like a sledgehammer in his chest. The ground beneath him crunched as he shifted, and Roman frozen.

Slowly opening his eyes, he was met with a sight that made him wish he had kept them closed. 

Because all around him were hundreds of bones, skeletons spread across cold, grey stone.

Roman recoiled with a strangled gasp, scrambling to his feet with wide eyes. His breathing was uneven as he stared out across the _ wasteland _of crumbling white, patches of grey in between. Where he had just been laying was what looked liked a human skeleton, and Roman felt something in his stomach twist.

Turing behind him, Roman looked up to the cliff he had fallen from and felt his jaw drop slightly. He had to crane his neck to see it in its entirety, because in front of him was a looming cliff, hundreds of feet tall, trees barely visible at the top.

Roman's hands began to tremble slightly as he realized that there was no way he was going to be climbing up _ that, _ and _ oh god, he was stuck. _

Turning his head back around, Roman noticed with growing horror that the expanse he had found himself in slowly sloped down the farther away it got, eventually disappearing at the horizon. It appeared...endless.

Roman tried to sink out again, trying to escape from the _ place _ he appeared to be stuck in, but he realized with horror that he _ couldn't. _His eyes pricked with tears and his hands began to tremble more

Roman inhaled sharply, trying to calm himself down because it wouldn't do well for him to panic even though he had every reason to, but if wanted any chance to live, he needed to think rationally about this.

_ Okay. I'm stuck in Remus' side of the imagination. No biggie! _ he thought to himself, except it was a biggie, because it was _ Remus' _ side of the imagination, and he didn't know where _ any _ of the exits were, and _ oh god he was going to die. _

Roman had to fight down the urge to pace, because if he paced then he would step on the - he shuddered - bones. 

Roman shoved a hand through his hair, fingers getting caught on the tangles as he blew out a breath, shivering as a sharp wind blew across the wasteland, reminding him of the pressing matter at hand - he had no shelter from the elements. And, while Roman wasn't a survival expert like Logan or Deceit (as self preservation, Deceit knew a surprising amount of survival things) he knew that a good shelter was important, as well as finding a drinkable water source, and then a source of food, and where he was, he had exactly none of those things.

Of course, he could, theoretically, just wait and see if anyone would find him, but no one even knew this place existed, let alone knew that he came here, so if he did wait, he would be waiting to die. 

And that was...a morbid thought he'd rather not dwell on. 

So, his only hope and his only option was to go through the entirety of Remus' side of the Imagination, looking for an exit.

And, if there was none, then...he didn't know what he'd do.

Taking a deep breath, Roman steeled himself, because the journey ahead of him was not looking very bitterly, jittery, and not very glittery.

_____

Roman had been walking for a while now, and he could safely say that he hated Remus' side of the Imagination. Sure, at the border between both sides it looked alright, but actually _ inside _it, it wasn't very beautiful. Just...terrifying.

He was trying his best to step around the bones littered across the stone, but sometimes he couldn't, and they made a sickening crunch under his feet as he stepped on them.

In front of Roman was a blob of _ something _, and Roman had been walking towards it for a while now, trying to amuse himself on puzzling on what it was. It was hard to find any joy in this place though.

Eventually, he was close enough to make out details, and he realized with a jolt that it wasn't anything like he had thought it was.

Because it was a corpse. It looked like a rhino, but with a brown hide and dark lion's mane, dark feathery wings draped over the stone. There was a distinct stench of death around it, and hidden by one wing was a large, gaping hole in its side, guts pouring out and ribs visible, large, fat maggots writhing inside of and around it and Roman had to look away before he got sick. Blood was splattered across the stone around it, suggesting that it had been dragged across the stone before it was left.

Roman's stomach was twisting as he sped walked by it, trying not to breath through his nose. 

Roman shuddered as he noticed similar corpses in the distance in front of it, all similar states of death. Some were missing wings, others limbs, some ripped in half with guts spilling between them, and Roman fought to keep his eyes away from them and to keep his lunch down.

He couldn't help but wonder, though, what had killed all of these things, what had taken such sick pleasure in _ ripping them apart- _

Roman gasped, heart racing as he nearly tripped over what looked like a half broken ribcage, barely larger than his foot. He stayed frozen for a moment more, trying to calm his heart before he continued on.

The stench of rotting corpses was almost unbearable now, but Roman noticed with a distant spark of joy that he had mostly cleared the dead horde of - _ whatever _those were.

God, what he wouldn't give to have to Deceit here, to whisper lies into his ear, to tell him that he was going to be okay, that everything was fine, but Roman couldn't fool himself with the same words.

Because, he _ knew _ that this was only the beginning, that these corpses were probably _ nothing _ to the horror that killed them, and that was probably nothing to what killed it, because there was always a bigger fish, and he was walking himself right into the belly of the beast, where all of these monstrosities _ lived- _

Roman had to stop that train of thought before he worked himself into a panic attack.

He needed to be clear headed if was to survive here.

And, so far, survival wasn't looking like it was going to be easy.

At all.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> roman seems fairly optimistic, huh?
> 
> lets see how long that lasts


End file.
